


Think Not of the Prize

by KannaOphelia



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anal Sex, Delayed Orgasm, Fallen Angel | Demon, Frottage, Hell of a Big Misunderstanding, Historical Fantasy, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Married by Custom, Mistaken Identity, Opposites Attract, Questing Knight, Rimming, Wings, sex on a church altar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:07:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KannaOphelia/pseuds/KannaOphelia
Summary: On his Grail Quest, Sir Leofric discovers an angel in chains, only to be freed by the pure of heart. Surely it is proof of his sanctity that his prayers could free a sinless creature of God, and that the angel claims him as his husband. Such exquisite pleasure could only be pure and blessed by God.Daob will fight all the armies of Heaven and Hell for the human who set him free. Leofric ishis.But there's a conversation they should probably have sooner rather than later.
Relationships: Devout Knight/Fallen Angel He Accidentally Rescues
Comments: 36
Kudos: 106
Collections: Fic In A Box





	1. Leofric

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kryptontease](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kryptontease/gifts).



Sir Leofric of Greenlea had been forced to discard his mail-coat and shield. Unbuckling his mail was an arduous task without a squire to help him. The villagers had been clear about the curse on the area. A challenger could only pass through the forest alone, his will and courage and goodness his only help against the spirit of the forest itself. He had worried about discarding the protective layer, but if this was truly a test of his purity of heart, armour would not save him. And it had been unbearably hot, the weight on his shoulders pressing him down, tiring him as he hacked and stamped and just pushed through the undergrowth. He dared not risk being too exhausted to fight any opponents.

He lost track of time, the sun cut off from him by the overhang of trees, which oddly gave no protection from the heat. It was if they served as a gigantic blanket, trapping heat around him, until he felt like he was boiling in the cauldrons of Hell itself. There was a pervasive sense of evil, yet nothing and no one came to challenge him. The need to stay alert while pushing through the undergrowth wore on his nerves, until he felt rough raw, anticipating attack at every turn, never finding it. It would be a relief if it did, if he could trust to his sword for more than cutting aside branches. Once he allowed the thought that he was being skinned and simmered like a hare to enter his head, it prodded at him, tormenting him until he began to recite the 23rd palm, taking comfort in its imagery of coolness and the quenching of thirst. Still waters, green pastures, my cup runneth over. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Shadows danced in the corners of his eyes, unknown malice lurked in the trees, but no foul spirit could touch Christ's true warrior. Tears of thanksgiving prickled his eyes when he pushed through some bushes at last to see a solid wall of wild roses. Well, rose bushes. The few flowers that peeped out from the mass of thorns and brambles were pale and drooping, with few petals. The brambles gave out an almost sullen air of sickliness and corruption.

Leofric reminded himself firmly that faint heart never won Holy Grail, and it was indeed possible that very cup Christ had drunk from was there behind the wall of thorns. Only the purest of hearts could pass through to the treasure hidden in the depths of the forest without falling prey to the terrible temptations and dangers there, the village priest had told him. It was the kind of test that might hold the Holy Grail. If not, surely if he failed at a test of purity of heart the Grail itself would elude him, so it was time to test his virtue and find out if he was worthy, or if his quest would be forever fruitless.

He stepped forward, sword raised. "God be my weapon and my shield." He almost choked when the brambles melted away before him, showing a clear path up to a small stone chapel, with a single door and a single window high above facing him. _Well._ Not to be smug, or anything, but that boded well. Leofric mouthed a small prayer of gratitude and stepped foot on the path.

He half expected some great wyrm or giant to rear up and attack, but only birds sang as he made his way up the path. It was cooler here, away from the oppressive trees, the sky a mild blue about him, scattered with soft clouds. The forest stood in a wide circle, as if afraid to approach the chapel. Above the barred wooden door were inscribed the words _Think Not of the Prize._ Not thinking about the prize was going to be more difficult than a wyrm, he feared. He had thought of little but the Holy Grail for two years. But, if it was asked of him... He took a deep breath, tried to clear his mind and fill it with reverence and faith, and touched the door with one gloved hand.

The door swung open as sweetly as if it had been newly oiled. Leofric stepped into the cool dimness with a sigh of relief. The nightmare heat of the forest seemed like a bad memory, here in these holy stone walls. The chapel was empty except some stone benches set against the sides, and an altar bare of candles. Leofric closed his eyes, let the sweet repose soothe him, and opened them.

The altar was no longer bare. Spread across it was

...an angel.

The being couldn't be anything else. Not with that massive build, surely at least seven feet tall, muscles pushing his bronzed skin taut without a single stretch mark, his golden hair falling in a riot of burnished curls until it touched the floor, his profile pure and clear as the morning. His beauty was entirely inhuman. He was magnificently naked, and on the belly that rose faintly curved above his graceful hips, there was no navel, no sign of being of woman born. Where his Adonis belt narrowed to his crotch, well, surely that was too impressive a beauty to be purely human. Also, there were the wings to consider. They resembled those of a white swan, only more radiant. Leofric had always found swan feathers a bit disappointing, with all their muddy brown and yellow shadows. The angel had wings like a dove, but with the strength and ferocity of a swan. Wings of startling beauty that could break an arm.

Leofric fell to his knees in adoration and worship.

The angel opened his eyes at the thump of Leofric's knees hitting the floor, and turned his head to the side. The rest of him was too thoroughly bound with thick iron chains to move.

"Well, hello. You're the first company I've had for centuries. Made it through the roses, did you? Well done. I'm Daob.[1] I don't suppose you're here to let me go rather than try to slay me? I don't die all that easily, I should warn you. Immortal and all that."

Leofric clambered to his feet and stumbled forward, blushing. Here he was in front of an angel, an angel most impiously and beautifully trapped, and he was _venerating_ him instead of _rescuing_ him. Some Grail Knight he was turning out to be. He fumbled for the chains, blushing as his fingers bumped silky skin. Oh, no. That was probably sacrilegious. At least it had just been an elbow. He probably would have been burned to ashes on the spot if he'd accidentally touched--

"Sweet of you, but that's not going to work, love. Satan put the chains on, only God can remove them. You don't suppose you could ask Him to let me go as a special favour?"

"Ask? You mean, pray to the Lord?" Leofric blinked, reflecting that Daob had a strange manner of speech--but _love_. Of course the angel loved him. Angels loved all of mankind. There was no reason for that endearment to send special warmth through him.

"Yeah. Thing is, you can't be thinking of any reward, that's the thing. It's like a test, right? If you set me free while thinking I will give you something in trade, the chains won't come off. Has to be from pure motives. Satan was always good at this irony thing, nasty old prick."

Leofric winced, but presumably angels could not speak wrongly. It was just his ignorance confusing him, to find the language coarse. Naturally, the Devil did not deserve respect, and an angel would curse his name.

"Yeah, I know. Why would you want a creature like me to be free without a promise of a reward? That would be stupid. I could strike you dead where you stand, weak human that you are. You'd have to be crazy. Never mind. No one else could manage it, no reason why you should." Chemos had leaf-green eyes, and while his expression was stoic, the eyes were more full of suffering than anything Leofri had ever encountered. He realised he was facing something terribly, terribly ancient, and ageless all at the same time. It was all wrong, that this beautiful being should be ignominiously chained like that, with despairing eyes, while a mere human stood free.

The roses had parted for Leofric, acknowledging his purity of heart. He could at least try. He was... he was supposed to be there, unworthy as he was. This was _his_ task, his destiny.

"Almighty Lord, please save Daob." The words spilled out of his lips, something like love behind them, empty of grace or ritual. He focused on the wrongness of an angel in chains, th pity of those great green eyes, the need to correct the wrong at all costs. "I'd do anything. Put me in his place. I know now I was born to free him. Hear my plea, Lord. Set him free."

There was a long breathless silence, counting away the seconds, the minutes. Nothing happened.

Daob sighed. "Well, thanks anyway. It was worth a try.For a moment--oh, well. I didn't really expect you could pull it off. Stay here and have a chat before you leave? You have no conception of how bored I am, and it was absolutely darling of you to give it a go. You're a kind-hearted young thing, aren't you?" The green eyes were tender through the pain.

Tears of disappointment and grief welled up in Leofric's own eyes. "I can't just leave you here to suffer alone. Don't worry. I'll stay, I'll keep you company all my days, I won't leave you trapped here without succour as long as I shall live. We'll find a way."

The noise of the iron binds shattering was louder than a mighty oak shattering in the forest.

"Oh my dear human," said Daob, feelingly. "You actually did it. _Stunning._ " He sat up, stretched his long muscular limbs, spread his wings wide in a dizzying white rush, then retracted them, disappearing into his shoulders as if they had never been. He passed a hand through his tangled curls, and they fell gleaming and perfect to his waist as he moved to his feet. "You _incredible_ young man. To feel such sacrificing love for such as me... It's probably supposed to teach me a lesson or something about human grace and forgiveness. The Almighty is keen on the whole moral lessons thing. Well, this is a _very_ nice lesson. Very nice indeed." He stepped closer, and slid a hand under Leofric's chin, caressing where the stubble was. Those leaf-green eyes, close up, looked wet, as if dew was clustering on the rose leaves, and the pupils were wide and dark, the gold lashes so long they cast a shadow on the angel's face. "Oh, did I mention irony? Because you didn't ask for the reward, you get it. Me."

His lips were warm and smooth. A kiss of peace, Leofric thought dazed, forgiving all his wrongs and sins, from an _angel_. No wonder it sent flame through him, made him feel hot and shivering, melting his limbs. He returned it as best he could, his arms coming up and clutching broad shoulders for support.

"Why am I so favoured?" he gasped, and Daob grinned at him. His teeth were as perfect as the rest of him, white and sharp.

"Oh, you sweet, adorable thing. I'm so lucky you were the one who came for me. And will again, in a manner of speaking."

Leofric hadn't been called adorable since he was a small child, he was a _knight_ , he might be fairly young but he was a hardened warrior. He couldn't take offence Daob's manner of speech was bizarre in general. Probably his angelic nature, beyond human understanding as he was. And all humans would be children to him.

His thoughts flew as Daob kissed him again. And this time the angel's lips slid against his own, parted them, and there was the touch of a tongue against his, gentle at first, and then... Daob was kissing him deeply, ravenously, almost... No, it could not be obscenely. Not from an angel. No matter how the blood moved in Leofric's body, making him feel full and heavy in his manhood as the angel's tongue swept possessively over his. This was pure and holy, he reminded himself. He lifted his hands to the back of Leofric's head, caught his fingers in silky curls, open his mouth further and let himself kiss back until he broke for air. Perhaps there was a trick to kissing without suffocating, to loving without dying.

"Such a sweetly eager knight, pure of heart and strong of passion," Daob muttered against his face, pressing kisses up the side of his jaw, firm except for the slight tickle of tongue touching his skin. "Be not afraid, and try breathing through your nose."

"Oh," said Leofric, and pulled Daob's mouth to his to try again. He could feel a grin against his mouth as the kiss deepened, the angel's tongue ravishing his mouth, hot and filthy--no, not filthy. This was pure. Were Adam and Eve filthy in Eden, before the fruit? Daob had never been corrupted, he was incapable of filth. And the kiss was so sweet, how could it be wrong? Firm strong hands on his hips, pulling him up to ride on a naked thigh, and his body seemed to know what to do, to push and rock. The pleasure gathered in him with an almost unbearable pressure, his hips moving until at last the kiss broke.

"Oh, you _are_ eager to be loved, you precious thing," said Daob, and licked Leofric's ear. Leofric shuddered. "A virgin, I suppose, or the brambles would never had let you in. An unnecessary complication, but there it goes. Never mind, dear heart. I have an eternity to teach you of pleasures--and oh, you have no idea how many pleasures can be fit into an eternity. Only wait--just wait," he cooed. "Not that I'm not flattered, and not that I don't like the idea of taking you when you're all spent and over-sensitive and sobbing beneath me, but what kind of husband would I be to let your first time be so quick?"

He completely lifted Leofric off of him with one hand on a hip, as if he was weightless as a feather on one of those huge wings, snaked a hand up under Leofric's tunic, and pinched in his most sensitive place.

There were black stars of pain in front of Leofric's eyes, a strangely nauseating rush, and his--his member, he wouldn't think a crude word in front of an angel--jerked desperately and let out a serious of unsatisfying pulses, remaining hard and aching. Leofric brought him back down, set him on his feet, and patted him soothingly. "There you go, my pretty husband."

"Your--your husband?" Leofric gasped out, in the middle of the unbearable sensations. He clutched at Chemo's arm for support.

Leofric raised a golden eyebrow.. "You truly didn't know the prize that awaited in the middle of the forest? Well, how about that. No wonder you managed not to think of all I could give you. Well, human, you've won a reward beyond all your dreams. All I can give you--wealth, lands, eternal youth. _Me_. My heart and my hand in marriage, to be precise. It's an old, old law, that even I can't defy. Not that I want to." He shook his head. 

" _Oh._ That's--that's why you kissed me." Leofric thought of his own appearance, and shuddered. He was strong enough, he knew that, but he didn't think of himself as particularly handsome. He had no lands--wait, an angel wouldn't care about wealth. But he was no lovely youth, next to this vision, an outsized pagan statue of Adonis rendered living. Leofric was solid and had a broken nose and his eyes were too close-set and mud-brown...

"Don't look like that," Daob said, as if he could read the sudden quiver in his eyelashes, the movement of his mouth. "You're so delicious I could devour you---oh, don't worry, not in that sense. Not _you_. We're married. But I do find you so very appealing. Almost as if you were meant for me." He paused, and a shadow passed over his exquisite features. "I should hate it if it _was_ meant. I loathe being messed with and having things done for my own good. But when you stood there, so earnest, wanting so badly to help me, I felt like you were <em>mine,</em?>, my--" He paused again. "I didn't ask your name. Sorry. Talking a lot. It's been a long two hundred years or something without anyone to chat with."

"Sir Leofric of Greenlea, at your service." Somehow Leofric managed to let go of the arm he was clutching enough to make a bow. He wanted to clutch it again, feel the silken skin with its spangling of golden hairs, and didn't dare presume. Bad enough that he had... that he had nearly...

"Oh, you're such a treasure. Look at you. It's been ages since I was properly venerated. But my dear, you forget, I am at the one at _your_ service, and more than willing to service you. You can service me if and when you prefer. You're blushing. Guess you know what I mean."

"I have heard... some things... but you are in the body of a man, how can we be wed?"

"This is just a form I take. If you'd prefer it, I could be a maiden--no?" he added in amusement, as Leofric couldn't help his eyes widening a little in dismay. He had never been tempted by women. "I didn't think so. Oh just _look_ at that blush. You're going to drive me crazy, human," Daob breathed, pulling him close. "Just think of all the ways I can make you blush in a thousand millennia."

Leofric tried to wrap his mind around the idea of a thousand millennia. He might as well be asked to count the grains of sand on a beach; it was too much, the numbers too dazzling. But it relieved a certain anxiety he had been not acknowledging. He had heard that water drunk from the Grail granted eternal youth. This, then, his angelic... husband would be his guide. Perhaps loving and trusting him was part of the test. He let himself melt into the angel's embrace and oh, that was beyond any of his dreams. He had always known that his fate would be to take a wife, to protect her, and of course he was a consummate knight and could defeat anything. It was his role to defend and to serve the King. He had never let himself think about how much he craved to be held by someone more powerful than himself, and his secret stirrings at seeing the strength of other men at battle had only been things to repress and be shamed of, explained away as blood-lust.

No one could shame him for belonging to an angel. An angel who, wonder of wonders, was pressing hard against his stomach, he realised with a shock. He glanced down, and flushed again, feeling his arousal even more painful than before. But then, why be ashamed of the way his tunic was tempting, when the angel, innocent and godly, was curving up long and proud, red with blood?

Daob looked down between them in response, and tilted his head to one side. "Hey, what about we consummate our marriage on the altar? Seems appropriate. And I've been stuck on that thing for a long time. Could do with a bit of, ahh, reconsecration."

That was right, Leofric thought dizzily, as Daob stripped the clothes from his body, running large possessive hands up his flanks, cupping his tight balls possessively, sliding a long finger up his sex and caressing the sensitive head with a strange delicacy considering the size of his hands. It _was_ fitting. A holy angel of God consummating a holy marriage on an altar, under the eyes of their Father. This was good. This was the reward for his virtue, because he had loved God and given his love and compassion freely to God's messenger. The tiny prickling of unease was just reverence for the angel, gratitude for the generosity of God, and even that fled when possessive lips took his again.

Daob lifted him again, seated him on the stone altar, and spread his legs. "You gorgeous thing, let me show you how grateful I am," the angel breathed, and moved his head forward.

It was nothing Leofric had ever imagined. It was like nothing he had ever felt. The long, hot slide of a tongue along the underside of his cock, finding the ridge, flickering at the base, moving up and circling. It should be obscene, the mouth moving over him, , but the face looking up at him under the long golden curls was radiant and unsullied by any sin. Such a burning look, possessive and oddly protective, as if Leofric's pleasure was the only important thing in the universe. Those exquisite lips opening even wider, engulfing him in searing wetness, stretched around him. Daob's inhuman eyes never blinked, never wavered from Leofric's face, and while all of Leofric's instincts shouted to close his own eyes and fling his head back, that gaze held him still and enraptured. There were sounds pulled out of him, almost inhuman themselves in their incoherence, and he had a strange sense of pride when Daob hummed in what seemed like delight in response. And oh, the vibrations that caused, too...

He felt it building up inside himself, the feeling of heat and tension that he felt from small sins when alone, when his head filled with a confused mixture of his loyalty to the King, the thick upper arms of peasants in the fields, his fellow knights, and it had become unbearable. Small sins... He felt that it was different here and now, if he let Daob pull it from him, it would be sanctified, his sins would poured away with his own spend, accepted and purfied by an angel's love.

"I'm yours," he whispered. Daob pulled away, surged up, kissed his mouth, lowered a hand and pinched again, preventing more than a frustrating twitch of spend. It was unbearable. Leofric wept onto Daob's shoulder, feeling like the chance of salvation had been stolen from him when he had been close, so close.

"Hush, hush, my brave sweetheart," soothed Daob. "You're doing so well. . But you couldn't expect me not to kiss you after you said that. No one, no being has ever..." He made a complicated movement, his immense strength showing, and Leofric was on his knees on the altar, thighs spread far apart, open and exposed and facing away from Daob. His instincts screamed that this was too vulnerable for a knight and a man, his most private areas exposed. To his horror, this only made him more aroused, his cheated prick straining against his belly as if trying to create enough friction to bring himself to release. Sinful, this had to be sinful. He needed to resist, even if resisting such strength was futile, even if his body screamed at him to give himself over to pleasure.

He felt a soothing kiss at the small of his back, a gentle hand caressing his hip, and his urge to fight dissolved. This could not be sin, not at the hands of an angel. He could do no wrong by taking everything given to him by a creature of nothing but virtue. This was a sacrament of love and holy marriage.

And he wanted it so much.

Even so, a shudder of mingled fear and desire went through him as the other hand mirrored the first, and parted his buttocks. Daob was huge in every way. How could he take something like that? He expected blunt hardness, tearing him apart, and instead felt familiar soft wetness. The same softness that had stroked inside his mouth, stroked his erection. The angel was touching his most profane part with his own tongue. Licking, circling, fluttering. Accepting, sanctifying, purifying. It was unthinkable. It was terrible and lovely and he couldn't stand it. Leofric's tears splashed hot on his hands. Everything was too much, the stimulation, the bright-sharp image in his own head of him kneeling on his hands and knees, with that beautiful golden _angel_ licking into him, but he felt if he would die if it stopped.

"Daob," he whimpered, and felt as much as heard the chuckle as the gentle touch of the tongue became firmer, more pointed, pressing inside, lips sucking at his entrance as the tongue forced its way in. Just dipping at first, but pressing deeper and deeper in long strokes, circling, pushing him further and further open. Surely no human tongue could go that deep, could flicker inside him that way, teasing him open, claiming him. He was sobbing, he was close to despair, his cock _hurt_ and he wanted to touch it and find relief, but he was propped up on his hands and trembling arms.

He imagined what it would be like to rut helplessly against the altar. The stone would be cold, would be hard. Would it also be rough? How much would it hurt? But surely even the most burning pain was better than this, this built up fire and tension inside of him. He needed relief.

Daob's mouth pulled away, and Leofric heard himself half scream with frustration.

"Ah, I shouldn't be so cruel to you on our wedding day, my love." Daob's voice had a hoarse edge to it that hadn't been there before. "It's just too sweet to make you suffer the pangs of love like this. All this sweetness, all mine." A hand slid possessively up his flank.

"Yours." The word seemed torn from Leofric's mouth. "Please, Daob." His arms were trembling from supporting his weight, for all his training, for all his word.

"Anything you ask, my knight. Always. That's the contract we sealed when you prayed for my release."

Leofric felt a flicker of pain at the words. A contract? So Daob had no choice, after all. Bound to a mere human by a curse, by...

His breath hissed as he felt something nudge against his entrance, and realised it was the angel's cock at last, pressing against him, forcing him further open, sending other thoughts flying from his head. Impossibly big, stretching him and stretching him, sliding slowly and inexorably. Bigger than any human. It hurt, oh it hurt, it burned and ached and it was astounding, perfect, filling him. _I belong to an angel,_ he thought, madly, as it pressed further and further. An angel who was impossibly tender, pressing soothing kisses to his shoulders even as he relentlessly pushing in, in, in, until oh God, he could feel or imagine him buried entirely inside.

He was filled, his hips were trapped between those massive muscular thighs, and arms came around him, holding him up, so that when his shaking arms gave way he was held as tightly against a hard hairless chest as if he was bound there by chains himself.

"Mine," rasped Daob, and Leofric felt him pull slowly out, dragging against him, sending uncontrollable tremors of pleasure through him. And then Daob rammed in again. It was fire and pain and ecstasy and Leofric called aloud to the Almighty.

"Mind your language," hissed Daob in something like anger.

Through his overwhelmed state Leofric managed a moment of shame at his blasphemy, but he couldn't have helped it. It was so much, all of it so much. he felt half split in two, pounded into, but the arms around him held him up, comforted and possessed all at once. _Lost in the arms of an angel_ , he thought, and instead of blasphemy, he chanted with each thrust, "Daob, Daob, Daob," like a prayer.

" _Leofric_." His name sounded like thunder in Daob's voice. Holy thunder, surrounding him, carrying him onwards. A hand released his chest and at last, at last, there was a fist around his prick, squeezing and sliding in a tandem with the thrusts, and he was nothing but the tightness and pleasure bursting forth at last, for what felt like an eternity, still impaled, still _fucked_ , and as he spent he could feel the fucking only gain in intensity, as Daob fucked him through every shudder and spurt, fucked him when he was over-sensitive and gasping and pliant, for what felt like an eternity.

"It is consummated. It is done and the contract can't be broken," Daob gasped at last. "No power of Heaven or Hell can part us." And he buried himself deep and the thunderous sound was drawn from him again, like music, like war, like rain, and Leofric realised the angel had climaxed, had claimed him.

He was half-conscious as he was gathered up into Daob's arms, and was dimly aware of the shining white wings coming out again, folding around them both, that his skin was now clean and dry, as he was pulled onto the angel's lap, showered with kisses.

"Sleep now, my husband," Daob said. His voice was like the purr of a cat now, a cat sated on fish and curled up by the fire. "You're safe with me. All my powers are yours, to serve and protect you."

Leofric surrendered himself to slumber, wondering why God had chosen him to be so favoured, sinful man that he was.

11Taob (also known as Gaap and Coap) is said to be a demon, a Prince or President of Hell according to different sources, who incites love in humans, can turn humans stupid, carry them between kingdoms, create invisibility and carry large amounts of gold and silver. [return to text]


	2. Daob

Daob didn't need sleep. He held his strange human husband on his lap, idly stroking his hair, trying to understand what the hell--heaven-- _Earth_ \--he had got himself into. And why he felt so fiercely joyful about it. Not just gaining his freedom from that blasted altar, but in being pledged to a human in return.

He was married to Leofric, by all the contracts carved in stone on the altar. He had spent decades railing against his fate, that if he left his prison at all he would be doomed to a human, one of the fould creatures that had supplanted him and his brother's in the Almighty's affections. Yet all he felt was fiery, all-consuming joy. He kept being distracted by the fact Leofric was the most ridiculously handsome, brave, noble, loving, fascinating, adorable being in all of creation, and with nice legs and the sweetest salt-tasting mouth and skin and a crooked nose and that cute cock that felt so hot and plush in his mouth and throat and _hell_ Daob just wanted to smother him with kisses and make him make lovely noises again, only he obviously needed his sleep, poor pet, and...

This was not a normal reaction to a human. His heart was not to be trusted in this case. The chances were he was being manipulated. Not by Leofric, by... Something Else.

Daob had never really expected to be set free. That was the point of the whole bloody humiliating exercise, wasn't it? He had been stupid enough to seek out love among humans, to try and find one pure-hearted enough to love a demon. He couldn't be forgiven by God, wasn't sure he _wanted_ to be forgiven by God when it came right down to it, but maybe some human could love him. A bit. For a while. Do something to temporarily ease the aching loneliness in his heart since he'd sided with the Rebellion and been thrown to Hell. 

Satan, bastard that he was, had thought it was funny to set Daob up like this. Only the pure of heart could make it through the roses. Only the pure of heart could set him free. But no one pure enough to do so would ever love a demon, and even the mostly-pure would falter when thinking of all the rewards Daob could give. The idea was that Daob would stew for eternity over the impossibility of ever being loved when he had chosen to reject love and join the Rebellion.

But then Leofric had come. Looked at him with compassion, something close to adoration, and love, and made the contract. And how sensual he was, for all his purity. So passionate and receptive. Daob would be looking forward to millennia of teaching him the ways of pleasure and passion, only--

It had to be some kind of trick. Nothing was ever that simple. If Daob had learned to distrust anything, it was divine or infernal intervention. And his own heart.

He supposed it could be Haniel or someone who sent Leofric. _Look, my child, even you are forgivable and lovable. You can learn to love one of the human children, accept you did the wrong thing by objecting to them and protect them all._ Daob could just imagine the sanctimonious prick. As if fucking his adorable human husband meant he was going to start going around curing plagues and making crops flourish or something. If so, the joke was on the angels, because Leofric was clearly some kind of warrior, which meant other humans would presumably try to kill him at times. Daob would enjoy tearing apart any human who threatened his precious husband. He looked forward to ripping them limb from limb and feasting on their entrails. Hadn't had a good meal for many many years, come to think of that.

Probably best not to eat humans in front of Leofric. He seemed a sensitive soul in some ways, the darling. Compassionate enough to pledge his life to keeping a trapped fallen angel company. Daob kissed Leofric's forehead adoringly, and then grimaced at himself. That had not been a very demonic thing to do. But Leofric was so bloody sweet. It was a bit like holding sunshine.

It could be Satan setting him up, Leofric thought, and really, really didn't like the idea. Because the more he thought about it, the more he was conscious of this burning, aching desire to protect and keep Leforic at all costs, the more vulnerable he would make him. It was Satan's kind of trick. Make him love a human, then kill the human in front of him, send Daob's husband to heaven where Daob could never follow, never see him, spend an eternity apart. His grip threatened possessively. Like Hell. He would fight all the troops of heaven to claim him back, because Leofric was _his_.

Leofric made a pained noise, and Daob remembered to loosen his grasp a little. Humans broke easily. Still, his own human's eyes fluttered open. Such nice brown eyes. There were rims of grey around the iris, and little grey and gold flecks in them. They made Daob want to kiss Leofric's eyelids, so he did. After all, who was _he_ to withstand temptation?

Leofric gave him a look of utter wonder, something that _did_ things to Daob, hurt his heart and burned his soul and was utterly wonderful. "So it wasn't a dream, fair one."

"Nope," Daob said happily, grinning down at him. "My brave knight won himself a husband." He kissed Leofric's lips, gently but trying to send the indication that if Leofric was up for anything more, it was definitely in the stars. He wasn't sure about human recovery rates.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Leofric said, wonderingly. "I always tried to be virtuous but... an angel. A real angel." He snuggled closer, eyes drifting closed again. "Surely the Holy Grail will be mine, with a holy creature of God like you by my side, keeping me on the path of goodness and truth."

He drifted back to sleep, while Daob sat frozen, trying not to say aloud, _oh fuck oh fuck oh shit oh no._

He needed to escape. He needed to be in the sky. He needed to think, to plan. Because if Leforic looked at him with hatred and fear and disgust, he felt like his soul would tear in two. Better to stay away. Better to never see the rejection in those eyes. Bloody Satan, always with extra dice up his sleeve, and Daob had walked right into it.

The air was cool above the forest and its curse, frosted with early morning. Beautiful. This world was so much better than Hell. Anything was better than Hell, really. His own palace, for example, was on Earth. Maybe he could make Leofric so happy there that he would forget about the Grail, never think to ask why his husband never did anything particularly holy. he would keep him safe...

By abandoning him in the fucking cursed forest. Good start.

When Daob arrived back at the chapel, his arms full of fruit, it was empty. Panic seized him. He shouldn't have left Leofric alone and vulnerable in the middle of a demonic forest. He seemed a handy lad with a sword, but that could only do so much against any of Daob's rivals if they turned up. Daob cursed himself.

"So you came back." He turned and could have fainted from relief at the sight of his husband, if his kind ever did anything so weak. "I went looking for you, but I thought you had gone. Or I had dreamed of you after all."

Oh Prince of Worms below, his face was shining with joy. Daob wanted to hug him and scold him for wandering off, as if it was Leofric's fault he had been abandoned. Instead, Daob held out his bounty. "Can't get rid of me that easily. I brought breakfast. Humans eat when they wake, right?"

"It is most welcome." Leofric took an apple, which made Daob grin, and then repress it hurriedly. "My thanks, lord." Leofric looked shyly and reverently at Daob.

"Hey, don't call me lord when I've had my tongue up your--I mean, we're married. Daob will do."

Leofric shook his head, with its adorable broken nose. No angels, fallen or otherwise, ever had broken noses. It was charming, all crooked like that. Daob kept wanting to kiss it. "I can hardly believe I'm so blessed. You're like a dream."

"Eat your brekkie and then we'll find something else to do with your mouth, huh?" Daob said, hastily turning the conversation away from blessings. It couldn't hurt to render him madly in love with Daob first, could it? He might take it better that way. They'd make love, and Leofric would listen and understand and love him anyway. Leofric was kind and full of compassion. He wouldn't curse him as evil, as having stolen his purity and deceived him and caused him to desecrate a church with a demon, and drive him away with prayers... He quieted his own panic by smothering Leofric's shoulder with kisses as he ate, letting his hands roam, feeling th enight's heart rate increasem his breath start to catch, his cock become heated and heavy, until he was sprawled back in Daob's arms, gasping and thrusting into his fist, apple abandoned by his side. Daob lifted and adjusted him until his own cock slid between Daob's thighs, encoraging hism with soft words to squeeze tight, let him enjoy the sensation of knudging against his balls as Leofric fucked his fist, cried his climax aloud to the forest, to the chapel, to God. 

No unfallen angel would pleasure him like that, would kiss away his tears afterwards and feed him slices of apple, kissing the sweetness of the juices from his mouth. Could love him the way Daob could. Would need him the way Daob did. It would work out. It had to. Look how happy Leofric was in his arms.

Sometime later, when they were trading languorous, sated kisses, and Daob was congratulating himself on managing to be rescued by the most perfect human in the world, Leofric said, "Where did you get such delicious fruit?"

"I sto--I mean I blessed some trees, and they produced it."

"A miracle? For me?" He looked so awed, so admiring, so in love... No one in all the ages of the world and before had ever looked at Daob like that. Because of a lie.

What the hell was a fallen angel supposed to do, anyway? The right thing? Daob said, "I would do nything for you. I _adore_ you," because it was true, and kissed him again.

"My--Daob?"

"Yes, love. Your Daob," said Daob. He knew he would be deeply humiliated if he could see the infatuated grin he felt creeping across his own face, and didn't even care.

"Did you really go find the fruit like--like that?"

"What do you mean?" Daob blinked, and followed Leofric's gaze. "Oh. Flapping around starkers on big wings, you mean?"

"Didn't you attract attention?"

"No one can see me if I don't want them to. Only you. Because we're wed, I can't hide from you."

"Oh. You mean I will be continuing on my Grail Quest accompanied by an invisible nude angel?" A flicker of humour on his lips. Every new aspect Leofric showed him was enchanting. Daob was drowning in love with no hope of escape.

"Well, yeah. If you like. Wouldn't you like to come to visit our palace first? Make sure it's still intact. All the riches of the world, love. Fruit sweeter than you could imagine. Gold and jewels and silk cushions. My legions--my _servants_ to sing and dance to your every pleasure. Every reward you've won." Let him get Leofric there, and he'd make him forget about the silly cup, and Daob's exact state of holiness would be less likely to come up.

"You must know the Grail Quest rules. If I allow myself to be distracted by luxury, I will fail. No matter how wonderful your miracles."

 _I don't do miracles, only spells._ Daob practised the words in his head, but somehow they came out as "Anything for you, my love."

So it was that Daob, fallen angel, once worshipped as a god in Moab and Ammon, found himself trailing behind a human knight en route to the next rumour of where the Holy Grail could be held, wondering how long he could pretend to be an angel before the game was up. Leofric had retrieved his mail and his horse and asked Daob to manifest some clothes for himself.

"You are very beautiful, son of the Heavens, but your unclothed beauty is most distracting."

Daob, who prided himself on being rather more than distracting, _impressive_ in fact, grinned at that, but manifested a loincloth and, when Leofric continued to look blushingly reproachful, a long smock. "Better?"

"Slightly less distracting, at least. You can't do much to hide your beauty." Leofric raised his hand to touch the long golden ringlets, shyly, as if not sure if he was quite allowed, for all they had done together. One curled around his finger like a shining ring. "I still can't quite believe..."

Daob caught his wrist and kissed it. "I'm yours," he reminded him. "Yours. And you're mine." He hesitated--and that in itself was new. He didn't hesitate when he rebelled against the angels, when he spoke to Satan and Beezlebub and the Leviathan themselves. Men quailed before Daob and gave up hope of salvation. But there was this instinct, this awareness that this human had the ability to hurt him the way no one else could. He resented it, but what could he do? "Leofric, my love, are you happy that I'm yours?

Leofric looked astounded. "How can you ask? To be so favoured by God is a blessing beyond all my prayers."

"No. Not that." Daob pulled him closer in by his wrist, looked straight down into his face. "Not because I'm an angel. _Me_. Do you think you can be content married to me? Love me? I'm aware this might seem unfair. You had no choice. Are you happy to be loved by me?"

The astounded look faded, Leofric's eyes softened, and then blazed. As if brown could blaze. "How could I help loving you? You are so strong and beautiful and strange and kind--and you need me." He blushed, looking down. "That is, you needed me to set you free, but I think that's not all. You seemed so lonely. Like you need a companion. I'm only a faulty human, but I will stay by your side as long as you need me."

Need. Daob should hate that. He should detest needing someone. He was an infernal being, sworn to serve no one but Satan, and only with reluctance. Instead, what rose in him was fierce, overwhelming tenderness. The human _loved_ him. "I'm not called kind very often," he said at last, edging towards the truth. "I think this is the first time anyone has used that word to describe me."

Leofric nodded understandingly. "It must be hard. Being the messengers, the enforcers. Smiting cities and guarding roads. You wouldn't have much chance to show kindness or make friends." He smiled, and Daob noticed for the first time that the smile under the crooked nose was crooked as well. Human flaws. He should look down on them, but instead, they were impossibly endearing. "I suppose that's very disrespectful of me. Why would you want to be friends with mere humans?"

"You don't understand. Humans are the chosen ones, not us," Daob protested. "That's what the whole--that's what the Rebellion was about. The Fall." He could say it. He could. He just needed to prepare the ground. "You had free will, and we weren't supposed to. If we showed it, we were punished and cast out." Close. He was so close to confessing.

Leofric's face darkened. "I know. Loving someone as ordinary as me isn't something you would have chosen of your own free will."

"You're not ordinary. Not to me. So you know how many thousands of humans I have met, none of whom have your exact eyes, your valaint soul?" Daob wrapped his other arm around Leofric and pulled him into a closer embrace, wrapped his wings around him until they were in their own little world of warm, white feathers. "I don't care about free will. I would choose to love you a thousand million times over, do you understand? My soul calls to yours." What a stupid thing that was to say, as if a human as devout as Leofric would want a demon's soul called to his. Just because it was true was no reason to say so. "You're mine now, and I'm yours, and I _will_ love you. And be kind. Kind to you, always, as you were kind to me when you found me bound down. If I have no kindness for anyone else, I will still cherish and protect you. Tell me you trust me."

"I trust you," Leofric said, and buried his head on his shoulder. "My angel." Daob was torn between a rush of tenderness and the desire to blaspheme. He managed to repress it. Angels were known for not blaspheming. But he could kiss his husband's hair, surely, and hold him close. Kiss him deeply and passionately and possessively. Well, angels probably didn't do that to humans, poor repressed sods. But his human husband didn't seem to object.

"Won't you ride with me?" Leofric asked as he pulled away. But his horse was having none of it. Every time Daob came within a few yards of the thing, its eyes rolled back with terror and it bucked. Good instincts, horses, Daob thought. Fortunately, Leofric remembered about Balaam and his donkey and didn't suspect... no. It would be better if he _did_ suspect. Perfect way to raise the subject.

Daob settled on walking a fair way behind the horse. He chafed at the indignity and longed to fly. But the path wound around under tall deep trees, casting them nearly into shadow, and if he flew above the canopy, he would lose sight of his human, and there was still a terrible fear of leaving him alone.

"I could carry you," he suggested, desperately. "To my palace. You could rest up..."

Leofric smiled at him. "I know it is your job to test me, beloved, but I will hold firm."

Anything Daob had to say dried up when faced by that radiant uneven smile and that _beloved_. The ridiculous human had him wound around his finger. He had to resist the temptation to drag the knight away from that stupid dangerous horse and into the bushes for some focused adoration. Daob loved him, he loved him so much. It was wonderful. He didn't want it to stop. If he told Leofric, it would stop.

After some hours, they paused for Leofric to eat. Daob was aware he had overstated his powers a bit in his earlier speech to his new husband, couldn't blame him, it was a _dramatic moment_ , but he found himself wishing he had at least retained the angelic power to summon manna. Instead, he said, "I will fetch you water." _Hey, look at me, an all-powerful demon, I can flap off and get you something to drink. Makes up for not being an angel, huh?_ Pathetic.

Then Leofric smiled at him as if he had offered him the moon in his hand, and suddenly Daob felt like he _had_ brought him the moon. After all, he could give him fresh, safe water, something he had seen hundreds of humans die for lacking. And eternal youth. Money. A nice palace. Surely he wasn't _that_ useless a husband, even if he was no longer a real angel and was instead, when he got right down to it, a visitation of Evil on the world. Didn't mean he was a particularly bad person. Especially if he remembered not to devour people around his husband. And he was handsome.

He wished he really could help Leofric find the Grail, if that was what the lad wanted. The problem was that there wasn't a Grail to be found. The whole thing had been a stupid prank of Mammon's devising, to keep the forces of good occupied. The problem lay in telling Leofric that without giving himself away or breaking his heart. Daob felt suddenly and irrationally that he would feed his own wings to the vultures of hell rather than disappoint his husband.

Maybe Daob could fly home and pick up a cup next time Leofric was asleep. A really nice one, set with pigeon's blood rubies. Gold? Or would silver look purer? Something that would fool the King. He could hide it in this castle they were going to, do a bit of stage management. Then Leofric would get to bring the Grail home and be acclaimed and everything would be perfect. Just perfect.

Then Daob could take him home and make him so happy, so loved that he wouldn't question his "angel" as the decades slipped past, until he was in too deep to object. Daob couldn't understand why that thought hurt a little, so he pushed the pain aside. Pain was uncomfortable, a reminder of the Fall. He didn't need it.

That night, on Leforic's bedroll, he whispered "Love me, love me," into Leofric's ear as the man ground desperately, inside him for the first time. "Be mine, love me."

"Yours," Leofric groaned as he spilled inside him. "I love you with all my heart."

"I love you _desperately_ ," Daob said in return, and heard the truth, the desperation in his own voice. Mighty Prince of Hell, reduced to this by a human, by a contract. The worst of it was that he _wanted_ it, wanted Leofric with him by his side, wanted to learn every thought and emotion in his head. _Mine, mine, mine,_ his mind echoed, and also, _yours_.

When Leofric slept, Daob slipped away on the winds to prepare.

* * *

The path widened when it reached the foothills, the trees thinning and falling away, until Daob could rise above Leofric's head, wings spread wide, swooping in the air. It was glorious. So many long, dull years trapped on that altar, and now the wind blew his hair out in long golden streams behind him, whipped in his magicked clothes, pulled tears from his eyes. It was glorious. Heaven, stinking hell, had nothing on this.

The forest fell away purple-green below him, and he could see the castle on the crest of the hill. Unguarded, except for three demonesses from his own legions, who had been deeply disappointed that there were no humans around to dispatch.

Naamah and Tunrida were ready dressed in white robes and ready to acclaim Leofric's purity of heart before presenting him with the Grail. They had promised, on threat of eternal torment, not to giggle. Hanni had declared she would be a dragon instead, to test Leofric's will and courage. Daob had argued with her, not sure he could bear to see his new husband injured, but she had prevailed.

"He's a knight," she'd said impatiently. "You can't coddle him too much, or he'll be bored. He needs something that will put up a good fight. Don't worry, I won't mutilate him permanently, seeing you've gone soft while you've been away. Besides, a bit of blood makes you all the more ardent. Blood lust is fun."

Daob yielded in the end, both because she was right, and because he was a little worried. Hanni had commanded his legions while he had been trapped, and it would be tiresome if she arranged a rebellion. That was the trouble with fallen angels, always rebelling. Never learned, any of them.

He dropped back down to tell Leofric the news about the dragon. The words shrivelled on his lips when he saw the expression on Leofric's face. It was reverent--and distant. That of a subject or suppliant, not a husband.

"You're too magnificent," Leofric said softly. "How can I aspire to the love of one such as you?"

"You don't need to aspire. You _have_ me. The contract was written on the altar, and consummated then and there. Don't doubt my love or your worthiness," Daob said urgently, trying to kiss the doubt away. Leofric's lips were unresponsive under his own, and Daob felt a stab of fear. He didn't want a worshipper--well, he wanted worshippers, but not _Leofric._ Leofric was supposed to be his companion, his lover, his husband. His friend. IUt felt like something precious he had only just grasped was slipping away, and the panic was new to him. He'd never, he realised, had anything before he truly cared about losing. 

Well, Hanni could fix that, couldn't she? Leofric could defeat a dragon, win the Grail, and then he'd feel worthy and come willingly and eagerly back into his arms.

"Come," Daob said. "A challenge awaits you, brave warrior. I can't interfere in a Grail quest, you know. You must prove your own valour and purity."

"If I dedicate my victory to you, my sword arm will not fail," Leofric said gravely. For the second time in his existence, Daob blushed.

As if on cue, there was a roar, and Hanni, in her dragon form, three-headed and with rotting snake-skin in shreds on her body, wings like some twisted bat, jaws dripping vemon, swooped down from what had been empty sky a moment ago. Daob rose into the sky, and the battle joined.

It went well at first. Hanni made a lot of noise but made no unduly violent moves, and Leofric, even with the blood drained from his face at the size and corruption of her form, remained steady. He had true courage. He fought off the sharp claws of the dragon, evaded her spined tail and her snapping maw, weaved to and fro with remarkable agility despite his mail coat and heavy weapons. Dabo's heart swelled with pride.

Then he misjudged a single move, and Hanni swept him up in her tail, his sword flying, and brought him close to her central head. _Fuck._ She wasn't supposed to do that.

"Shall I eat you, little human?" she asked mockingly, her voice resonant with age and hatred, the old resentment of the fallen angels against the weak humans who had supplanted them. "Or do you trust your angel to come for you?"

Leofric spat in one huge golden eye. "If I need Daob, then I am unworthy of him. He trusts in my purity and valour to prevail, even now."

Hanni shrieked with laughter, and it echoed across the valley. "Purity, says the demon fucker."

" _Hanni._ " Daob's voice rose in its own true power. "Keep your silence, and release him. He is mine."

"Can'tyour little human tell the difference between one of God's angels and one of the fallen?" Hanni flickered a long black tongue against Leofric's face, leaving a droplet of venom that made him flinch away in pain.

Daob bellowed with rage and terror. He tried to plunge forward, brutally of Hanni's magical power was now focused on keeping him away, and he batted helplessly against it, feeling his skin blister at the contact.

Hanni pointedly ignored him. "Shall I leave you alive, human? I would enjoy letting you turn against and betray the foolish demon who fell in love with you. Let his grief destroy him. Or return you to him with the stories of every terrible deed he has committed. Let you live eternally knowing he corrupted you and barred you from heaven. Until you turn against him, let his bitterness eat away at him as your love turns to hatred, and his powers weaken. That would amuse me."

Daob gathered his power in both his hands, but the shield didn't fade. How had Hanni become so powerful in a mere few hundred years? Tears of anger and sorrow blurred his vision, and he didn't care to wipe them away.

"It's a shameful thing, for a Prince of Hell to waste his love on a human. Daob is weak already," Hanni said contemptuously. "I think I will devour you, as he has devoured many a human like you, but only once I have savoured your hatred."

"You fucking traitor, let him _go!_ " Daob slammed his power against the wall. "I won't let you hurt him!"

She turned one massive head to him. "It would be better if you could let me. He will never love you now. He only ever loved an illusion of you."

"It doesn't matter. Let him _go_!"

"But it does matter." Leofric's voice was small and oddly calm. "Devour me if you must, but my soul will survive. Daob will still love me, and _I will still love him._ Nothing will change that. Nothing."

Power surged through Daob at last. The barrier splintered, and with a yelp of pain, as the shards of her own spell hit her, Hanni fled into the sky, dropping her burden with a sickly thud.

Daob let her go. He had better things to spend his attention on. He snatched Leofric up from the ground. "Are you safe, my love, did she hurt you?" He showered kisses on the beloved, crooked, perfectly human face.

"Bruised and shaken. And--are you really fallen?"

"I thought you knew. And then when I realised you didn't, I already loved you. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. But you love me still?"

Despite his grey face, a faint smile turned up Leofrics mouth. "Of course I do. You're my _husband._ And you love me, you really do, I could feel it when you were trying to save me. You would have done anything to proect me," he said, wonderingly. "I feel like a fool, though. You really were a strange angel. If I hadn't been so infatuated... You flew up into the sky, and I thought, something so beautiful must be forever above me. You could never love me as I loved you. But you do... oh, you do."

"You don't seem heartbroken at the news," Daob said suspiciously. "This is not at all how I imagined you responding. You seem almost pleased."

"I thought, when the wyrm threatened to devour me, perhaps you would visit me in Hell, and it would be worth being damned to see you."

"You sweet idiot, you would never go to Hell." Daob kissed everywhere he could reach, Leofric's chin, his neck, his ear. "But I'd fight my way into Heaven to win you back. Oh, my sweetheart." He bit and nipped, and when Leofric turned his face to be kissed properly, this time the knight kissed back properly, lips parting eagerly, pressing close, and it only took a small exertion of power to get that damn mail coat off him.

"But the wyrm," Leofric protested half-heartedly, as Daob's hand found its way to the already heavy and swollen cock between his legs.

"She'll have fled to a new master. She's not powerful enough to face me, if I hadn't been distracted." Daob kissed him again, hand dropping.

"No Grail in the castle?" Leofric asked, eventually, as they sat beneath a fir, legs tangled together, the warm sweet human weight of him against the fallen angel.

"Sorry, beloved. There's a cup, but I was intending to trick you."

"Can't trust you," Leofric said, in a contented tone of voice that suggested he did, in fact, trust Daob altogether too much. "Wicked thing." He ran his fingers through long, golden curls.

"You're still good and pure, though. I can sense it." Daob sighed. "You were probably sent to save me. But I don't feel particularly good in general. I just love _you_."

"Well, that's enough. Perhaps I'm good enough to balance things out. After all, I won you through my purity of heart. God must have sent me to you for a reason. Perhaps, in the end, _you_ are my Holy Grail."

Which was ridiculous, and deeply wrong, as Daob wasn't a holy anything, but...

"I know what you mean," the fallen angel said and kissed the knight.


End file.
